The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's ...

APPENDIX II ROMANCE OF BETEL-CHEWING 289
King of Siam. It consists of a number of beautifully carved
boxes with pyramidal tops, fitting into the upper portion of an
elaborately made round box which contains the betel leaves.
As in India, the areca-nut plays a conspicuous part in
the wedding ceremony. In fact, it actually gives the name to
the ceremony itself. It is served on a metal or plaited tray,
and must be accompanied by three other articles : a cake,
called Kanom-cheen a kind of ;
mincemeat, highly seasoned,
; and,
wrapped in plantain leaves, and cooked by steaming
thirdly, the sirih leaf and red lime. These are all termed
" "
Kan mak literally, a basin of betel-nut and this is the
"
common Siamese name for a wedding. Like the Siamese,"
says Bock, 1 " the Laosians are perpetually chewing. Whether
they are busy or idle, they chew : whether they sit or walk,
they chew. Teeth or no teeth, every Laosian, from almost
infancy to old age, chews betel. The toothless old folks
assist nature by placing the betel-nut with the accompanying
ingredients into a small mortar a sort of hybrid between
a child's popgun and a syringe -which they always carry
a few strokes of the rod suffice to crush the nuts
with them ;
and reduce them to a pulpy mass warranted not to hurt the
softest gums."
Without quoting from further works on Siam 2 we will
travel south to the Malay Peninsula, where betel-chewing is
universal.
The Malay Peninsula
All Malays chew betel, and the pagan tribes of the
Peninsula have learned the habit to a certain extent from
their overlords.
3
Skeat and Blagden give several instances of this. Thus
the Mantra and Besisi smoke tobacco and chew betel, or, as
a substitute, cassia leaves, together with gambier and lime,
which they obtain by barter from the Malays of the coast.
most of the
Betel is only sparingly used, however, among
1
Op. cil., pp. 254, 255.
2 See F. A. Neale, Narrative of a Residence at the Capital of the Kingdom
of Siam, pp. 153-155 ; J. G. D. Campbell, Siam in the Twentieth Century, pp. 146-
147; A. C. Carter, The Kingdom of Siam, New York and London, 1904,
pp. 166-167 ; and W. A. Graham, Siam, two vols., London, 1924, vol. ii, pp. 27,
28, 32. Useful information will also be found in an anonymous article in Notes
and Queries on China and Japan, September 1868, pp. 136-139.
3
Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula, vol. i, p. 93.
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